Don FM was an influential London pirate radio station,[1] which along with a handful of other stations, critical in the development of breakbeat hardcore, jungle and drum and bass music.[2] It first broadcast in November 1992 on the frequency of 105.7FM from a tower block in Wandsworth. On the 28th March 1994, it ceased broadcasting to apply for a temporary Restricted Service License. It achieved this and transmitted legally for 4 weeks from 28 August 1994 on 100.5FM to London, and remains the only pirate radio station of its genre to have done so. Don FM Ltd was incorporated on 17 June 1994 and had its registered office at 13 Bowerdean St, Fulham. Don FM returned as a pirate on the frequency of 107.9FM from early 1995 until April 1997. It was briefly revived in 2007 in conjunction with their offshoot Flex.

Don FM has produced a number of today's highly respected jungle, drum and bass and garage DJs, MCs and artists, such as DJ Trace, Ed Rush, Matt Cantor of The Freestylers, Mark Force of Bugz in the Attic, DJ Dee Kline, Hyperactive, G-Force, and Stevie A.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Last edited by London Jungle on Sun Oct 12, 2014 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Don was first Established on 105.7 in South London by Nasty V and Easy D and quickly made a huge impression on the pirate radio scene. There were many things that made Don FM stand out from the other pirates of it's time (it's biggest competition back then came from other well established Jungle stations like Kool, Rude and Rush FM). Not only was Don consistently on every weekend but it provided a great format catering for Jungle/D&B music mostly but also playing classic house and garage in a more easy listening Sunday session. Every weekend was drawn to a hyper conclusion with a big show named the "Don Showdown".

There were many excellent DJ's and MC's but probably the main thing that stood out about Don was it's marketing machine. Don established a logo and the slogan "Be Don or be Gone!" and produced a range of merchandise that could be purchased from any of the main dance music record stores. In addition to this Don ran a series of club events to cater for both the under and over 18 listeners. There was also a small free magazine called "Don Life" which could be picked up for free in record shops.

The Don following grew dramatically and quickly so soon Don set it's sights on acquiring a legal FM broadcasting licence, a campaign was mounted and Nasty V rallied the full support of the crew and listeners coining the term "Donland" to refer to the transmission area and listenership. Don finished it's campaign on a high going out in style with a marathon Sunday night Jungle session which continued on into the early hours of Monday morning and finished with an emotional Nasty V reading a tribute shout to every DJ and MC on the station whilst playing out with "Frankie Knuckles - Tears".

True to it's word Don managed to obtain an RSL (Restricted Service Licence) for a new frequency of 100.5 and returned broadcasting 24/7 for a month introducing a more professional sound and format including news and chart shows in conjunction with the Chemistry Records store. Unfortunately for Don it was unable to raise enough advertising revenue to purchase another RSL. Having achieved a lot Don was forced back to illegal broadcasting as a pirate station but never really re-kindled the magic that it achieved on 105.7.

The story didn't end there though because Easy D went on to establish Flex FM as one of South London's biggest pirates and other members of the crew such as Nut Nut and Stevie A went on to set up Scandal FM. Many of the original Don DJ's and MC's turned their skills to these stations.

Don itself went silent for over ten years and then Nasty V reunited the crew in conjunction with Flex FM management in 2007. The Don/Flex partnership didn't work out and so Don continued on it's own broadcasting through 2007-2008.

Editors Note: There are several issues with an RSL, the key lies in the word "Restricted" because not only is the transmission power limited and carefully regulated but a station cannot run licences back to back meaning that any listenership that might be gained is lost whilst the station has to wait for it's next licence. To make things even harder the station cannot be guaranteed the same frequency.

"...I was still only 14 and without even knowing it, I had become an MC!!! Ha, ha, ha. As the weeks went on, I started to take it more seriously and even done a bit of DJing, but decided to stick to MCing.

At that time, the biggest pirate radio station in my area and the surrounding counties was Don FM run by Nasty V [Vernon] and Easy D [Dave]. The heavyweights on the station were DJ Atmosphere and MC Kingsize, closely followed by MCs Meltdown, Nasty, OC, Otec, Nugski and DJs Lady A, Gussy, G-Force, Charlie Brown, Mellows, Murdock, Pinky, COD, Demo, JP, BPM, Easy D, Nasty V, Climax and so many others! [Sorry if I forgot you].

Anyway, Sean and Carl had been making plans to expand to a to a monthly event, due to the success of the weekly sessions. The new event would be called Teenrage! They had booked Ratpack, Baby D, Atmosphere and Kingsize for the main event. I couldn't believe it! These guys were my idols and the whole neighbourhood was going crazy; everyone was going to be there, from south London and beyond. As a special surprise, Ratpack, Baby D and Kingsize, came down to do a special at Cagneys, the week before Teenrage. It was awesome! Watching these guys on the mic., I new my destiny. That same night, Sean and Carl asked me if I wanted to MC at the Teenrage event… I couldn't believe it and of course my answer was 'Yeah… Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!'.

The day of the event finally arrived [July 17th 1993], it was to be held at Tolworth Recreation Centre, Surrey. All went well with 1500 kids turning up to the event and I played the first two hours. Girls were dragging me off the stage and I found myself signing autographs. The atmosphere was buzzing and MC Stevie A was officially born.

By this time, I was becoming very well known locally. Sean and Carl had been in regular contact with Nasty V and Easy D at Don FM and managed to secure a show for their DJ Exodus and wanted me to MC along side - Oh my gosh… Ha, ha, ha… Bo! I was absolutely out of control with excitement and those who know me, know that there is no calming me down when I'm excited! We arrived there at 4.30pm and tore the house down. It was amazing! From then on I became a regular on Don FM, with up and coming bad boy - DJ Nut Nut. There were many memorable moments with the Don crew, including wild trips to Amsterdam… [As you know, I've been MCing professionally for 10 years now and to do every moment, in my career, the justice deserved, I would have to write a book! So I'm trimming down the stories until then, but I will write one, trust me!].

I continued to work with Teenrage and Don FM up until around 1995 but due to some massive arguments between Don and Teenrage, as well as some other serious incidents, I decided to go solo.

Whilst on Don, I managed to pick up a lot of technical skills, and along with DJs Ruxspin, Phil B, Crown and DJ Nut Nut, I set up Scandal FM. We were the craziest bunch of kids on the airwaves and we discovered DJs such as Scott Garcia, Donna D and Deekline, who played on our station regularly. I remember a fair bit about the Scandal days but much of it is just a blur! Scandal was a constant party and nothing or nobody else mattered. I think you get the picture! But in case you don't, just try to imagine 15 teenagers earning thousands of pounds a week and running a radio station that they loved more than life! Due to certain events, which I won't go into, the Scandal crew parted company."